Category Sports News

Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan is in serious doubt over issues with his medical, according to multiple BBC Sport sources.

The France forward, who has been nursing a knee issue, had an initial medical examination on Sunday followed by additional tests on Monday.

The Italian club are now set to pull out of the £30m deal for the 28-year-old, who wants to leave Selhurst Park.

Palace had been unwilling to let him go without having a replacement, but agreed a £48m deal for Wolves forward Jorgen Strand Larsen and granted Mateta permission to have an initial medical in London before flying to Milan.

Nottingham Forest have also been interested in the striker and had a £35m bid rejected by Palace last weekend.

As it stands, Palace are still expected to complete the deal for Larsen, despite the uncertainty over Mateta.

After the 1-1 draw at Forest on Sunday, Palace manager Oliver Glasner said: “I expect either Mateta or someone else here as a striker.

“Everybody is really working very hard, but it is so close to the end of the window, so it makes it more difficult. I always try to be positive, so I hope.

“Worst case, we sell Mateta and no-one comes in, then it’s not a good window for Palace.”

Wolves, meanwhile, have moved to replace Strand Larsen and are close to reaching a deal for Southampton striker Adam Armstrong for an initial £7m.

There is growing confidence the move will be done, with the Premiership’s bottom club Wolves in danger of relegation to the Championship.

The 28-year-old has 11 goals for Saints in the Championship this season and has 43 in total for the club since joining from Blackburn Rovers in 2021.

Meanwhile, Palace are showing late interest in a move for Everton winger Dwight McNeil.

McNeil is out of favour at Hill Dickinson Stadium and Palace are working on a deal to sign the forward.

Newcastle United are to take action after a young club mascot was left alone in the middle of the pitch before Saturday’s defeat at Liverpool.

The girl walked out with the players prior to the 4-1 loss at Anfield and lined up alongside the visitors as they shook hands with Arne Slot’s side.

But footage from TikTok user @doubleh8596 captures Newcastle’s sole mascot being left on her own as the players then rush off to the touchline to hand over their track jackets pre-match.

A Liverpool member of staff nearby notices this while filming the hosts warming up, and points her in the direction of the dugout.

However, she waits near him by the centre circle while the Liverpool mascots at the other end of the field pass the ball around with captain Virgil van Dijk.

She looks around as the clip ends, so it is not clear what happens next, but television footage later shows her running off the field with the Liverpool mascots.

The Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) has since raised the clip with the club.

“They are aware and it is being addressed and action being taken,” a spokesperson wrote on X.

Sheffield United have launched a surprise loan move for Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

The Championship side are working on a deal to sign the former England international before Monday’s 19:00 GMT deadline.

The 30-year-old’s one and only appearance this season came in the final seven minutes of City’s EFL Cup win against Huddersfield in September.

Phillips – who joined City from boyhood club Leeds United in 2022 in a deal worth £45m – has previously been loaned out to Ipswich Town and West Ham United.

In December 2022, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola slammed the midfielder for returning from the World Cup “overweight” and “not in the right condition to train”.

England will play their first minutes of Six Nations rugby without Maro Itoje on the pitch for almost seven years on Saturday after the captain was named on the bench for their opening game of the campaign against Wales.

Itoje missed the start of England’s preparations for the tournament in Girona to attend his mother Florence’s funeral in Nigeria.

“It’s been difficult, to be honest,” the 2025 British and Irish Lions captain told the Sunday Times of his grief.

“It’s been challenging on both the professional and personal front. It’s just the paradox of life.”

Itoje has been an ever-present for England in the Six Nations since the start of the 2020 tournament, playing all 80 minutes in 30 successive matches.

The 31-year-old was however on the bench for England’s autumn win over Fiji.

Hooker Jamie George – Itoje’s Saracens team-mate and predecessor as England captain – will lead the side from the start, with Itoje to take on the role when he comes off the bench.

Alex Coles partners Lions lock Ollie Chessum in the second row.

Dingwall started three of England’s four autumn internationals at inside centre, but was under pressure from Bath’s Max Ojomoh, who impressed when he stepped in for the injured Northampton player against Argentina in the summer, and fit-again Seb Atkinson.

The selection means Freeman’s conversion from a specialist winger into an outside centre option is set to continue.

The 24-year-old won the first 19 of his 22 caps out wide, but started a Test at 13 for the first time in March’s 68-14 thrashing of Wales in Cardiff.

He began at 13 in Northampton’s 41-21 win over Bath in December, scoring a hat-trick opposite Ollie Lawrence, one of his main rivals for the spot, to make a convincing case for a Test place.

Lawrence, who has been a first-choice mainstay of the team since the Rugby World Cup in 2023, has been hampered by a knee injury which he has been working on during England’s pre-tournament training camp.

Steward; Feyi-Waboso, Freeman, Dingwall, Arundell; Ford, Mitchell; Genge, George, Heyes; Coles, Chessum; Pepper, Underhill, Earl

Elsewhere, Bath wing Henry Arundell will make his first start since the 2023 World Cup after being named on the left wing.

The 23-year-old, who scored a try against Australia as a teenager on his Test debut and a record-equalling five against Chile at France 2023, is a dangerous broken-field runner.

He has improved under the high ball and in defence since moving to Bath at the start of the season.

Leicester’s Freddie Steward, an 6ft 5in aerial specialist, starts at full-back with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who has seven tries in 13 caps, completing a back three designed to collect and counter a Wales kicking bombardment.

Borthwick has predicted that Wales, under new coach Steve Tandy, will take to the skies with “50 contestable kicks” when the teams meet at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

“England versus Wales is always a special occasion in the rugby calendar. It’s a fierce rivalry with a long history, and one that brings a huge challenge every time we meet,” Borthwick added.

With England’s prop stocks hit by injuries to Will Stuart, Fin Baxter and Asher Opoku-Fordjour, England’s strongest pairing of Ellis Genge and Joe Heyes start.

While England powered to four successive wins in the autumn with the aid of a ‘Pom Squad’ set of experienced replacements, there is less Test-proven ability on the bench for this tournament opener.

Bevan Rodd, who has made two Test starts in the last couple of years, and Trevor Davison, who has three caps, are the prop replacements.

Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill and Ben Earl – the back-row combination for England’s three toughest autumn internationals – start together again.

As expected, Alex Mitchell and George Ford reprise their half-back partnership with Henry Pollock, who has won all five of his caps off the bench, and Tom Curry among the replacements once again.

England will play their first minutes of Six Nations rugby without Maro Itoje on the pitch for almost seven years on Saturday after the captain was named on the bench for their opening game of the campaign against Wales.

Itoje missed the start of England’s preparations for the tournament in Girona to attend his mother Florence’s funeral in Nigeria.

“It’s been difficult, to be honest,” the 2025 British and Irish Lions captain told the Sunday Times of his grief.

“It’s been challenging on both the professional and personal front. It’s just the paradox of life.”

Itoje has been an ever-present for England in the Six Nations since the start of the 2020 tournament, playing all 80 minutes in 30 successive matches.

The 31-year-old was however on the bench for England’s autumn win over Fiji.

Hooker Jamie George – Itoje’s Saracens team-mate and predecessor as England captain – will lead the side from the start, with Itoje to take on the role when he comes off the bench.

Alex Coles partners Lions lock Ollie Chessum in the second row.

Dingwall started three of England’s four autumn internationals at inside centre, but was under pressure from Bath’s Max Ojomoh, who impressed when he stepped in for the injured Northampton player against Argentina in the autumn, and fit-again Seb Atkinson.

The selection means Freeman’s conversion from a specialist winger into an outside centre option is set to continue.

The 24-year-old won the first 19 of his 22 caps out wide, but started a Test at 13 for the first time in last March’s 68-14 thrashing of Wales in Cardiff.

He began at 13 in Northampton’s 41-21 win over Bath in December, scoring a hat-trick opposite Ollie Lawrence, one of his main rivals for the spot, to make a convincing case for a Test place.

Lawrence, who has been a first-choice mainstay of the team since the Rugby World Cup in 2023, has been hampered by a knee injury which he has been working on during England’s pre-tournament training camp.

Steward; Feyi-Waboso, Freeman, Dingwall, Arundell; Ford, Mitchell; Genge, George, Heyes; Coles, Chessum; Pepper, Underhill, Earl

Elsewhere, Bath wing Henry Arundell will make his first start since the 2023 World Cup after being named on the left wing.

The 23-year-old, who scored a try against Australia as a teenager on his Test debut and a record-equalling five against Chile at France 2023, is a dangerous broken-field runner.

He has improved under the high ball and in defence since moving to Bath at the start of the season.

Leicester’s Freddie Steward, a 6ft 5in aerial specialist, starts at full-back with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who has seven tries in 13 caps, completing a back three designed to collect and counter a Wales kicking bombardment.

Borthwick has predicted that Wales, under new coach Steve Tandy, will take to the skies with “50 contestable kicks” when the teams meet at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

“England versus Wales is always a special occasion in the rugby calendar. It’s a fierce rivalry with a long history, and one that brings a huge challenge every time we meet,” Borthwick added.

With England’s prop stocks hit by injuries to Will Stuart, Fin Baxter and Asher Opoku-Fordjour, England’s strongest pairing of Ellis Genge and Joe Heyes start.

While England powered to four successive wins in the autumn with the aid of a ‘Pom Squad’ set of experienced replacements, there is less Test-proven ability on the bench for their tournament opener.

Bevan Rodd, who has made two Test starts in the last couple of years, and Trevor Davison, who has three caps, are the prop replacements.

Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill and Ben Earl – the back-row combination for England’s three toughest autumn internationals – start together again.

As expected, Alex Mitchell and George Ford reprise their half-back partnership with Henry Pollock, who has won all five of his caps off the bench, and Tom Curry among the replacements once again.

Former Sussex seam bowler and chief executive Tony Pigott has died at the age of 67.

Pigott joined Sussex as teenager, taking a hat-trick with his first three balls on his first-class debut against Surrey in 1978.

He made a single Test match appearance for England against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1984, postponing his wedding in order to play for his country after being called up at short notice as injury cover.

Pigott left Sussex after 18 years to join Surrey in 1994, but a series of injury problems saw him become second team coach at the Oval two years later.

He returned to Hove in 1997 to lead a takeover of the board and under his leadership, it became the first cricket ground in the UK to install floodlights.

He recruited Chris Adams from Derbyshire as their new captain in 1998, and although he left his post the following year, Adams said his work helped lay the foundation for their first County Championship title in 2003.

“Tony was one of, if not, the biggest positive transformative influences in the history of the club”, Adams told the club website.

“Personally, Tony played an enormous part in moulding my life for the better and was the number one reason I signed for Sussex in 1998. A really loveable, glass half full character who will be missed dearly by many.

“Thank you ‘Lester’ for everything you did for Sussex CCC”, Adams added. “The 2003 Championship in my eyes will always be dedicated to you and the brave few who stood up and were counted in 1997.”